Poultry-feeder.



A. H. BAKER.

POULTRY FEEDER.

urmoumn mum JULY :49, 1910.

988,962. Patented Apr. 11, 1911.

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ANDREW H. BAKER, OF BROCKTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

POULTRY-FEEDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 11, 1911.

Application filed July 29, 1910. Serial No. 574,561.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW H. BAKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brockton, in the county of Plymouth and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Poultry-Feeders, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

My invention is a poultry feeder, contain- .ing a combined cover and partition adjust able into different positions with relation to the food hopper, whereby the latter is convertible into a single compartment or into a double compartment, and whereby the food may be protected from external dirt, rain and rats, and the fowls maybe compelled to feed from opposite sides thereof or all from one side, as desired, and whereby the cover .cannot get lost and is maintained rigidly in detail of one end; and Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section showing how the apparatus can be converted to its different forms.

Preferably the entire mechanism is constructed of metal, such as galvanlzed ironor the like and comprises a trough 1 whose preferably integral end portions 2 are preferably rectangular at their lower edges and bent at right angles at their vertical edges 3 along the sides of the trough, to which sides said inturned ends are riveted at 4:.

-Over the upper edge of the ends is prefer- 1 of wires 7 whose hooked ends 8 are caught into said flanges 6 as a convenient means of holding the wires in place and bracing and otherwise connecting the end portions of the apparatus. A vertical guide, herein shown as a guide wire 9, extends upwardly at each end, being supported at approximately the middle of the flange 6 where it extends through a hole 10, said wire being looped over at its top 11 and extending downwardly at 12 flat against the outer end of the trough, which is provided adjacent the bottom with a hole 13 for receiving the inturned end 14 of said wire. The upright part 12 of the wire is securely fastened by a small wire or staple 15 which passes through the end 2 and the two folds of the part 5, thereby rigidly bracing the entire apparatus.

A cover 10, wide enough to span at least enough of the apparatus to keep out rats, for instance, preferably as shown in dotted lines Fig. 3, is provided, having apertures, herein shown as slots 17 at its opposite ends, to fit over the end guides 9, and a depending flange 18 connected at its ends 19 to the adjacent portion of the top, at each end thereof, so as to provide a slot 20. The flange 18 is adapted to ride up and down in the guide formed by the wire guiding loops or uprights at the ends of the receptacle, and the slot permits the cover to move up and down when standing edgewise, at which time it constitutes a vertical partition, the lower portion of said cover, z. e., the left hand portion Figs. 1 and 3 being shown as thin or not provided with the flange 18, 19, so that it may enter vertical slots or notches 21, provided in the ledges 6 close to the guide uprights 9, so that when the cover is tipped as shown in Fig. 3, into a vertical position, it rests down on the bottom of the food receptacle and is positively held in said vertical position by the guide wire 9, thereby not only dividing the food receptacle into two compartments adapted to hold two different kinds of food but extending upwardly a sufiicient distance to keep the hens or other poultry separated. It is commonly necessary to provide a number of receptacles in a poultry yard as some of the poultry object to the presence of others and accordingly this feature of my invention divides the receptacle into practically two receptacles, by having this partition means for keeping the fowls apart and enabling one set to eat from one side and another from the other side. The cover however is movable into several other positions for converting the apparatus to other uses and introducing further advantages. As herein shown, the top edges of the sides of the receptacle are deflected obliquely upward and inward as shown at 22, and at at least one side the projecting upper ends of the flanges 8 are bent parallel to the adjacent 2 l t 3 T1 1 tl ed e as sioun a a ius w ien is cover is raised from its vertlcal position and swung over obliquely it may be locked in a slanting position as shown in Fig. 1. This converts the apparatus into a one rea a 0 ceptacle feeder and permits the Iowls LO get their food through the central opening 524 enlarge the opening to accommodate larger fowls with the cover still in the oblique position, it may be disengaged from the flange portions 23 and allowed to slide down thereover until the ends of the slots 20 come into engagement with the uprights 12, which will hold it in this position resting over the back edge of the receptacle, or, more accurately, on top of the flange members 23. When it is desired to close the receptacle the cover is slid along the guide wires or uprights until the latter enter the slots 17, thereby permitting the cover to drop flat into closing relation with the receptacle as shown in dotted lines Fig. 3.

I prefer to provide the wires 7 for keeping the fowls out from the food and yet permit such port-ions of the food to drop back between said wires into the receptacle as may escape from the bills of the fowls.

It will be understood that my invention is capable of a considerable variation of embodiments from that herein shown, within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,

1. A poultry feeder, comprising a recep tacle adapted to contain food, a rigid consupporting said cover-partition rigidly in said vertical position to form a partition, said apparatus also having means for securing the cover in an oblique position with one edge engaged with the receptacle adjacent one side thereof, and means for supporting theopposite edge of the cover raised from the receptacle.

3. A poultry feeder, comprising a receptacle, opposite upright end guides, and a rigid cover having end guiding slots cooperating with said guides to maintain the cover in a vertical position as a partition, and also having means to permit the cover to move bodily from said vertical position into a horizontal position closing the receptacle.

4. A poultry feeder, comprising a food receptacle having inwardly projecting end flanges centrally notched from their. inner edges, upright end guides extending adjacent said notches, and a cover slidingly and pivotally mounted on said guides and provided with end portions fitting said notches when the cover is turned into a vertical, partition-forming position.

5. A poultry feeder, comprising a food receptacle having opposite upturned ends, separate U-shaped members fitting over the tops of said ends and provided with inwardly extending flanges inside the receptacle having central notches extending lengthwise of the receptacle from their inner edges, a vertical guide loop extending above and embracing each U-shaped member and having oneend portion mounted in the flange thereof and the other end portion extending downwardly along the outside of the adjacent end of the receptacle, means binding together said end of the receptacle, U-shaped members and guide loop, and a cover pivoted and slidingly mounted on said guide loop having cut-out portions to receive the same and permit it to rest flat down upon the receptacle, said cover being also capable of occupying said notches in a vertical position lengthwise of the receptacle as a partition.

6. A poultry feeder, comprising a receptacle'having at one side receiving means to receive and hold the adjacent edge of the cover, vertical end-guides, and a cover for slidingly mounted on said guides, the upper ends of said guides constituting means to support one edge ofthe cover raised when the opposite edge of the cover is held by said receiving means.

7. A poultry feeder, comprising a receptacle, vertical end guides secured thereto, a rigid closing cover for the receptacle pivotally and slidably mounted on said guides, and means to engage one edge of the cover cooperating with the guides to hold it bodily in oblique position.

8. A poultry feeder, comprising a receptacle having vertical end-guides, a rigid normally closing the receptacle, pivoted and cover pivoted and slidably mounted on said j 9. A poultry feeder, comprising a receptacle, vertical end guides thereon, a rigid convertible cover partition pivotally and slidably mounted on said guides, adapted to be supported in a vertical position to constitute a dividing plate, means cooperating with the aforesaid parts to position said cover obliquely in one position, and means also cooperating with said aforesaid parts to position said cover obliquely in another 10 position.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ANDREW H. BAKER.

Witnesses:

GEO. H. MAXWELL,

EDWARD MAXWELL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

